Do we need a mobile kill-switch to stop mobile theft?

Smartphones, phablets, and even tablets continue to grow more powerful with each new release. Consumers are now more reliant on their mobile devices than ever, as they can accomplish many tasks while en route to work or a meeting. The downside with this mobile era is that more sensitive data is stored on our devices, which makes things really complicated when the device gets lost or stolen.

People also use their mobile devices to purchase things online and manage their bank accounts. If someone gets a hold of their device, they may have to kiss goodbye to their savings.

There are some apps which allow users to remotely wipe data from their phone if it gets lost or stolen, but not everyone knows about them. Which is why OEMs are now proposing to have smartphones come with a kill-switch that would render a stolen or lost device useless.

The kill-switch initiative

Several states and municipalities in the US are considering mandatory kill-switch laws for mobile devices, and this has led to the wireless industry announcing a voluntary commitment to include a new anti-theft technology available on phones which will be released next year.

Apple, Google, HTC, Huawei, Motorola, Microsoft, Nokia and Samsung, as well as five of the largest network carriers in the US, have all agreed that devices going on sale after July 2015 will be equipped with technology that allows users to wipe data on their device and prevent it from being reactivated without their permission. User’s data would backed up and if the device is retrieved, it can be fully restored.

This concept is not new as there’s already a similar feature on the iPhone. Apple introduced the Activation Lock feature in iOS 7. The feature is automatically turned on when a user sets up Find My iPhone, and means the phone cannot be accessed without the owner’s Apple ID. This renders the device inoperable in the wrong hands.

Having this kind of security on all smartphones would beneficial for many mobile users, and could also be a way to fight off mobile theft. Though this effort is commendable, California state Senator Mark Leno believes that what the mobile industry needs is a mandatory kill-switch law which would mean users don’t have a choice of switching the security feature on or off. He suggests that smartphones be equipped with a kill-switch that would prevent the device from being reactivated again. He believes that a mandatory kill-switch is the only effective way to deter mobile theft.

“While I am encouraged by the incremental progress, the wireless industry must commit to the whole solution, not just a piece of it, to protect their customers and make our streets safer,” Leno said.

No to kill-switch

The CTIA doesn’t see a kill-switch as the answer to stop mobile theft as it could pose more problems. If someone activates the kill-switch because they thought they’d lost their smartphone, only to find it later, there would be means to reactivate the phone. Also, a kill-switch could be exploited by hackers and allow them to deactivate phones currently in use.

CTIA President Steve Largent says consumers deserve to enjoy the freedom of accessing apps and services that are suited to their lifestyle.

“This flexibility provides consumers with access to the best features and apps that fit their unique needs while protecting their smartphones and the valuable information they contain. At the same time, it’s important different technologies are available so that a ‘trap door’ isn’t created that could be exploited by hackers and criminals,” Largent stated.

The initiative to secure smartphones began last year and was led by the New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, and the San Francisco district attorney, George Gascón. The two met with the biggest and most influential smartphone manufacturers as well as top network carriers in the hopes of coming up with a plan to secure mobile devices in case they get stolen or lost. Samsung proposed preloading phones with Absolute LoJack anti-theft software as a standard feature, but the network carriers opposed this suggestion citing security concerns.

A kill-switch may help deter mobile theft, but manufacturers and carriers need to come up with a better plan to secure devices, other than rendering the device inoperable, even for owner. Apple’s Activation Lock or something very much like it, seems the most feasible solution to keep mobile devices safe.

Mellisa Tolentino started at SiliconANGLE covering the mobile and social scene. Over the years, her scope expanded to Bitcoin as well as the Internet of Things. SiliconANGLE gave Mellisa her break in writing and it has been an adventure ever since. She’s from the sunny country of Philippines where people always greet you with the warmest smile. If she’s not busy writing, she loves reading, watching TV series and movies, but what she enjoys the most is playing or just chilling on the couch with with her three dogs Ceecee, Ginger, and Rocky.

Premium Research

Wikibon argues strongly against Revolution towards a 3rd platform. The conclusion from this analysis is that applications will evolve; conversion should be avoided like the plague. The greatest opportunity is to continuously adapt today's operational applications by the addition of real-time or near real-time analytics applied directly to the current organizational processes and applications that support these processes. This is likely to translate to the greatest value to most organizations, and where possible avoid the risks of converting systems. The study of organizations that have applied real-time analytics to their current operational systems have shown incredible improvements in lower costs and greater adaptability. Business and IT executives should understand the enormous potential for adding decision automation through real-time analytics to current operational applications in their organizations. New technologies should be judged by their ability to support real-time analytics applied to operational systems, and supporting incremental improvement over time.

In a recent web-based survey conducted by Wikibon, 300 North American enterprises whom had either been utilizing, or considering the adoption of public cloud, answered questions regarding IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) perceptions and usages. These questions varied in topic but were centered around an examination of which workloads were best suited for usage in the public cloud. This research examines a few additional key insights that shed some light on the growing IaaS world.

Today's Technology infrastructure management is largely non-differentiated and wasteful. Technology executives must re-think the strategic role of human capital and begin to implement new ways to consume IT as a service. This post draws on the learnings of senior executive Alan Nance from Royal Philips who is dogmatic in its approach to transforming its infrastructure to a service model.

There have only been two successful volume introductions into the marketplace in the last 50 years - DRAM and NAND flash. There has to be a clear volume case with good economics for 3D XP to be able to gain a foothold in consumer products. Without volume in the consumer space, there is unlikely to be much volume traction in the enterprise space. CIOs, CTOs and enterprise professionals should take a wait and see stance, and monitor the adoption of 3D XP in the consumer and military spaces. If and when there is volume production for 3D XP, enterprise adoption should start about two years later.

The use of open source software continues to accelerate and expand in the marketplace, especially in areas where technology is significantly disrupting established business models. IT organizations should be actively seeking to understand how open communities operate, how different licensing models work, and how they can be more actively engaged with both the vendors and communities that are shaping open source software.

CIOs understand that a clear cloud strategy is critical for IT today. Wikibon believes the biggest mistake organizations can make is converting major applications into the public cloud (including SaaS) without thinking about the implications to their existing business process workflows. Wikibon recommends that IT develop and implement a hybrid cloud strategy using the existing management workflows and compliance processes for both the public and private cloud components in the hybrid cloud.

In 2014, Wikibon defined a new category "Server SAN" that sits at the intersection of software-defined storage, hyperscale methodologies and converged infrastructure. This article is the executive summary of primary research that gives the status of the market, examines the vendor ecosystem, lays forth the revenue and 10 year forecast and gives direction for expansion beyond simple "hyperconverged infrastructure". This information is available for public consumption, the full research is available to Wikibon clients.

In this research paper, Wikibon looks back at the introductory Server SAN research, adjusts the Server SAN definition to include System Drag, and increases the speed of adoption of Server SAN based on very fast adoption from 2012 to 2014. The overall growth of Server SAN is projected to be about a 23% CAGR from 2014 to 2026, with a faster growth from 2014 to 2020 of 38%. The total Server SAN market is projected to grow to over $48 billion by 2026. The traditional enterprise storage market is projected to decline by -16% CAGR, leading to an overall growth in storage spend of 3% CAGR through 2026. Traditional enterprise storage is being squeezed in a vice between a superior, lower cost and more flexible storage model with Enterprise Server SAN, and the migration of IT towards cloud computing and Hyperscale Server SAN deployments. Wikibon strongly recommends that CTOs & CIOs initiate Server SAN pilot projects in 2015, particularly for applications where either low cost or high performance is required.

If containers are at the center of a shift in how applications are developers and delivered, and their pace of growth and change is unprecedented in IT history, this could have a massive ripple effect on both suppliers and consumers of the ecosystem of IT technologies.